I still can remember the first day when I got off the plane, passed the Belgium custom, entered into Brussel last August. But now I have already been back to China for one month after one year study in Europe. Time flies as always.
To be honest, I was really happy last year in Europe, I learned a lot, from economics to life, from culture to different religion beliefs. This makes me have to write down this article, for memorizing this year, also for giving tips to following students.
1. About this program: the full name of this program is “M.A. Economics of International Trade and European Integration”, which belongs to the family of Erasmus Mundus Programs organized by European Commission. There were seven partner universities in this program, and starting from 2011, there will be two more universities joining this program. One new partner is exactly Xiamen University, and the program will be changed into “M.A. Economics of Globalization and European Integration”. In this academic year, we were studying in three universities in three countries. For my case, these universities are: Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille (Lille 1) in France, Universiteit Antwerpen in Belgium and Prague University of Economics which is located in Prague, Czech Republic. For some other students, their first semester is in Staffordshire University, England. Here is the program link where you can get more information:
http://www.ua.ac.be/plugins/ua/styles/eitei/welcome.html
2. Visa application: Prepare early for the Visa application. There are more and more Chinese students studying abroad; so prepare the visa application earlier and call the embassy earlier for an appointment. They require basic documents which you can prepare earlier like birth certificate, proof of no criminal, etc.
3. Booking ticket: usually we can get visa result at late July or even later, but if you book ticket this time, it will be very expensive. So last year, I took a risk that book the ticket first and then apply the visa. This is the part that we need to balance.
4. Bank Card: University of Antwerp is the coordinator of this program, so they are in charge of the bank card part. After you get there, you can have a Belgium bank card. However, this card is not available for trade on internet. So do take a VISA card or MASTERCARD for some internet trade like booking ticket.
5. SIM Card: it is very easy to get a SIM card. I can recommend several telecom services (I can’t guarantee that they are the best, but I am fine with using them): Orange in France, BASE in Belgium, and Vodafone in Czech Republic.
6. Renting Apartment: in France, the Professor who is responsible for this program will organize the place to live. Usually, for the students who have scholarship, he will organize them in city center which is more expensive; while for students who pay themselves, he will organize dormitories in university campus which is almost 100 euros cheaper. In Antwerp, I rent the apartment by myself instead of asking help from coordinator. Google always helps. Usually it will take 300-400 euros a month per person covering electricity and internet, sometimes even laundry. In Prague, the coordinator helps us to find dormitories which cost around 150 euros per month.
7. Living Expense: To be honest, it is really not that expensive to live in Europe comparing to big cities in China. Usually we cook by ourselves, because that will be cheaper.
8. Traveling: When talking about this, I really miss the 10 euros airplane ticket from Ryanair or Easyjet Company. If you don’t have big luggage to travel with, these two cheap airline companies can be good choice. But one disadvantage is: usually they arrive in small airport which is far away from city center, and you will pay 5-10 euros more to get into city center. But it is still cheaper or same as trains.
9. Other tips: Bring at least one dozen of photos, it will be frequently required during this year, and printing in Europe of course is more expensive than China, although not a lot.
I really enjoy a lot this year in Europe, although we also have intensive courses and be busy. I feel happy truthfully. Moreover, since it is a master-program not an exchange one, we can stay in a fixed class and build deep friendship with each other and keep in touch even after this program. Friendship is always fortune in our life.
